Nativeness: Does it matter?

Differences between Native

and Nonnative Teachers in

EFL Classrooms

1. Who are We?We are all teacher candidates!

Project Topic: “Differences between Native and Nonnative Teachers in EFL Classrooms”

Group Members: Muazzez Tuğçe BütünFatih Hazar KedersizSelin KuyucuSelda Pür

Average Age: 22.50

Group Name: N for Nativeness

Group Slogan: “Nativeness: Does it Matter?”

MeetingTime: Saturday (17.00-20.00)

Meeting Point: Tugçe’s Residence

Observed Schools:

Rustu Akın Vocational High School

Istanbul High School

ACI Schools

Sezin School

2.What will we talk in this presentation?

1. What our project is: What our problem is Brainstorming Introduction Why we chose this topic Fishbone Diagram Matrix Diagram Gannt Chart Literature Review Methods Results Solutions 2. Myth vs. Reality

3. What is Our Project ?

Our Problem: “Differences between Native and Nonnative Teachers in EFL Classrooms”

“Major Concerns of Nonnative Teachers of English”

Öğretmen ayakta

MEB’in yurtdışından 40 bin İngilizce öğretmeni alacak olması protesto edildi. Bakanlık önünde toplanan öğretmenler, “İthal bakan istiyoruz” dedi

Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’nın, “Yabancı Dil Öğretiminin Geliştirilmesi Projesi” kapsamında her yıl 10 bin olmak üzere toplam 40 bin anadili İngilizce olan yabancı İngilizce öğretmeni getirilecek olmasına eğtimciler tepki gösterdi. Türk Eğitim-Sen üyesi bir grup, MEB önünde toplanarak, “Öğretmen mi, misyoner mi geliyor”, “İthal öğretmen değil, ithal bakan istiyoruz”, “Atama bekleyen öğretmen adayını unuttunuz mu” yazılı dövizler taşıdı.

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/ogretmen-ayakta/gundem/gundemdetay/25.03.2011/1368692/default.htm

BRAINSTORMING:

The differences in teaching

behaviors

between your native and

nonnative teachers

What are our major concerns as

prospective

teachers?

What are the main causes the

perception that native teachers

are better.

Why did we choose this topic?

We are all teacher candidates, and we should be aware of what we will encounter in the future.

There is a general tendency that native teachers are better in teaching English.

Nonnative teachers are suffering from the prejudice and suspicion on the part of students, parents and administration.

Discriminations against nonnative teachers in terms of

payment,accommodation, working hours

and health insurance.

What do you think? What

are your observations in

your practicum schools?

Are the administrations of

your training school

praising nativeness or

native looking? What are

students and parents’

perceptions?

Background Knowledge:Who is native speaker of English?: “One learned

language at one’s mother’s knee” (Bloomfield, 1927).

A person who was born in an English speaking country (Medgyes, 2006).

The question of ownership of English: Does English belong to just natives by virtue of their better language proficiency and stronger cultural affiliation?

Widdowson (1994) says;

“It is not a possession which native

speakers lease

out to others while retaining the

freehold.

Other people actually own it.”

Definition of the Problem:What are the causes of differences between native and nonnative teachers? What are the causes of the perception that native teachers are better ?

Perception of the studentsPerception of the

parentsTeachers’ own perception

Administration Policies of Schools

http://mangatblog.blogspot.com.tr/

Literature Review:

Butler(2007)

found that 60% agreed with the statement that ‘the English Language is best taught by a native speaker’ and that 85% of the respondents indicated that they did not have the minimum levels of proficiency needed to conduct activities using the English language because they perceived their own proficiency to be very low.

Dogancay&Aktuna (2008)

Surveyed 21 teacher educators in Turkey to determine their self-perceptions as NNESTs. 41% reported that they had no proficiency problems and perceived themselves to have an improved ability to express themselves idiomatically. 43% did not perceive problems with their NNEST status but those who did claimed it was an issue felt that it was public perception that led them perceive a problem with their non native speaker status.

Kamhi-Stein (1997)

Studies show that many administrators in California believe that only native English speakers could be good teachers of ESL .

Kamhi-Stein (1997)

Unlike what many administrators believe, the ideal ESL/EFL teacher is not necessarily a native speaker. Most studies agree on identifying the qualities of a credible teacher. Among the qualifications of a good language teacher most often stressed are training in ESL /EFL pedagogy, an in-depth understanding of the English language and knowledge of the second language acquisition process. Nativeness is not included.

Native-Speakerism according to Adrian Holliday; includes prejudicial judgement in its nature and sees the

other English learning cultures as subordinate cultures.

English-speaking West considers their own teaching-learning techniques such as active, collaborative, and self-directed ‘learner-centred’ ones superior over other ones that they assume ‘collectivist’, ‘reticent’, ‘indirect’, ‘passive’, ‘docile’, ‘lacking in self esteem’.

But this kind of perspective like ignoring the cultural elements or ‘’othering’’ some cultures must be eliminated and students from outside English-speaking West should be taken into account.

http://frenchgirlinseattle.blogspot.com.tr/2013/02/parlez-vous-anglais-no-i-speak-que-dalle.html

http://tefl-teacher.blogspot.com.tr/2011/09/native-english-teacher-or-non-native.html

Teachers:Lack of intuational language use and non native pronunciation.Low self confidence and embrassment

Students:Students have tendency to question their non native teachers’ language knowledge Students feel more secure when they can use their L1.

Parents: Parents are questionening language competence of non native teachers.

Administration:Discrimination against non native teachers in the hiring decision. Working hours, salary, health insurance, accommodation

Student Teacher Administration Parents

Selin 5 3 7 5

Selda 5 3 5 7

Tuğçe 7 5 7 5

Fatih 7 5 3 5

Total 24 20 22 18

% 82 75 78 60

MATRIX DIAGRAM

PLAN

STEPSMARCH(Weeks)

APRIL(Weeks)

MAY(Weeks)

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Circle Formation

Problem Definition

Approval

Literature Review

Cause Definition

Approval

Strategies

Tools

DO Survey

CHECK

Data Analysis

Suggestions

Conclusion

Power Point

Rehearsal

ACTPresentation

Correction

Video

Expected

Observed

GANNT CHART

Methodology

40 high school students from Rustu Akın Vocational

High School, Istanbul High School, ACI Schools and

Sezin College are given 10 questions in a

questionnaire and asked to assess the statements

using the 5-scale.

Please circle the numbers related to how much you agree with the statement. Assess the statements according to scale:1-I certainly don’t agree. 2- I don’t agree 3- I’m not sure 4 – I agree. 5- I certainly agree.

TEACHER ASSESSMENT

EDUCATION QUALITY

1. Native teachers' language knowledge is better than nonnative teachers.

2. Students improve their pronounciation skills better with native teachers.

3. Parents tend to regard native teachers more competent.

4. Nonnative teachers apply learning strategies better than native teachers.

5. Nonnative teachers manage the classroom more easily and better.

6. Students learn the culture of the target language better with native teachers.

7.Students' needs and expectations are fulfilled by native teachers better compared to nonnative teachers.

8.Nonnative teachers use more different techniques, methods and materials effectively compared to nonnative teachers.

9. Students' listening and speaking skills improve much better by native teachers.

10. Students communicate with their nonnative teachers more comfortably.

Results:

Answers are assessed according to assessment graphic.

Results show that:

NATIVE TEACHERS EVALUATION 4,0NONNATIVE TEACHERS EVALUATION 4,1

NATIVE TEACHERS EVALUATION NONNATIVE TEACHERS EVALUATION

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.04.0 4,1

TEACHER ASSESSMENT

EDUCATION QUALITY- FOR NATIVE TEACHERS 4,0EDUCATION QUALITY - FOR NONNATIVE TEACHERS 3,9

NATIVE TEACHERS EVALUATION NONNATIVE TEACHERS EVALUATION

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.04.0 3.9

EDUCATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Results:

According to the survey, there is not much difference in the perception of native-nonnative teachers’ assessment. However, each statement differs in the results, therefore it is more sensible to analyze each statement separately.

TEACHER ASSESSMENT1. Parents tend to regard native teachers more competent. 2. Native teachers' language knowledge is better than nonnative teachers. 3. Students improve their pronunciation skills with native teachers better. 4. Nonnative teachers apply learning strategies better than native teacher.5. Nonnative teachers manage the classroom more easily and better.

1 2 3 4 50

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.55

Teacher Assessment

Teacher Assessment

3,4

4,4 4,13,9

4,3

EDUCATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT1. Students learn the culture of the target language with native teachers. 2. Students' needs and expectations are fulfilled by native teachers better

compared to nonnative teachers.3. Students' listening and speaking skills improve much better by native teachers.4. Nonnative teachers use more different techniques, methods and materials

effectively compared to native teachers.5. Students communicate with their nonnative teachers more comfortably.

1 2 3 4 53.2

3.4

3.6

3.8

4

4.2

4.4

EDUCATION QUALITY

EDUCATION QUALITY

4,3

3,6

4,1

3,853,9

We also had interviews with one native and one non native teacher

Our question: Do you see any advantages of you over non - native teachers?

No I don't. I think they are as effective as we are. Because they also care about linguistic competence of students. Their pronunciation is also not a problem for students as long as they understand their teacher, they can always develop their pronunciation with other ways.

Jenny Abamu/ Açı College

Our question: Do native teachers earn more than the nonnative teachers and do you have much more opportunities like accommodation and free education advantage for your children in your school?

Actually I can’t say anything about the salaries because as the rules require, we don’t know how much other teachers earn but I can say that each teacher gets different amounts based on their experience and their educational background and competence. Again I don’t have an accommodation opportunity however my manager helped me to find a good place near around as ı’m not familiar with here Istanbul. Also I don’t know anything about the free education opportunity because I don’t have children. As I know from my colleagues they just get some sale for their children's education as they work here but this is not only for native teachers but also nonnative teachers.

Jenny Abamu/ Açı College

Our question: Do you find yourself adequate in teaching environment as a non native English teacher?

Well, I think I can meet their needs.I think I have a fluent English and I don't see a huge gap between me and a native teacher in terms of fluency, grammar, word choice etc. Sometimes there can be slight differences in terms of pronunciation but I am trying to improve myself more and more everyday. I also think that because we have a common cultural background with them, I can understand what students think and feel in some specific circumstances. So, if a non native teacher manages and directs his qualities well enough, he can move ahead of his native counterparts.

Doruk Gürkan/ Sezin School

Our question: Can you mention any advantages of being a non native teacher in a private school. What do you think?

Actually, in this school we are not allowed to speak in Turkish with the children, so they think we don’t know Turkish. We are using English while communicating. But, as a teacher I can guess the problems they can encounter while learning. For example, in the last lesson you observed I focused on the word “scissors” because I know it is a difficult word to pronounce for a Turkish student.

Doruk Gürkan/ Sezin School

Solutions: What can we do?

1.Encourage collaborationbetween NESTs andNNESTs.(Canagarajah, 1999)

2.Consider the contextof EL teaching in aworld where English isan international language

3.Considerations for NNESTsteaching pronunciation forEnglish as an Internationallanguage (EIL).(Modiano 2005 and Low 2010)

4.Pedagogical Implicationsfor English as anInternational Language

MYTHS REALITIES

1. Native teachers teach pronunciation better. 1. English is spoken globally in today’s world. There are so many varieties of English not just standard English.

2. Native teachers teach language skills better (Listening, speaking, reading and writing).

2. Because nonnative teachers experience the same language learning paths, they are more aware of problematic language areas than their native colleagues

3. Native teachers meet students’ needs and expectations better.

3. We can’t make a generalization about it. Every teacher has its own style disregarding his nativeness.

4. English-speaking West has the most agreeable culture and each culture that wants to speak English should adapt its culture to English-speaking West.

4. As English is spoken interculturally, it doesn’t belong to a single culture or a couple of cultures.

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks to

Dr. Hayal Köksal

Thanks to Our Collegues

References:Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York and Chicago: Hold,

Rinehart and Winston.

Butler, Y.G. (2007a). Factors associated with the notion that native speakers are the ideal language teachers: An examination of elementary school teachers in Japan. JALT 29(1), 7-40. Canagarajah, S. (1999). Interrogating the “native speaker fallacy”: Non- linguistic roots, non-pedagogical results. In G. Braine (Ed.), Non-native educators in English language teaching (pp. 77-92). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.  Dogancay-Aktuna, S. (2008). Non-native English speaking teacher educators: A profile from Turkey. In Aktuna, S &J. Hardman (Eds.), Global English teaching and teacher education: Praxis and possibility (pp. 61-82). Alexandria, VA: TESOL Publications.

Kamhi-Stein, L., Aagard, A., Ching, A., Paik, A., & Sasser, L. (2004). Teaching in K-12 programs: Perceptions of native and NNEST practitioners. In L. D. Kamhi-Stein (Ed.), Learning and teaching from experience: Perspectives

on nonnative Englishspeaking professionals (pp. 81-99). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Köksal, H. (2004). İmece circles in schools and at classrooms to realize unity in education. Academy Istanbul Publishing, Istanbul.Low, E.L. 2010. Sounding local and going global: Current research and implications for pronunciation teaching. In L. Lim, A. Pakir, & L. Wee (Eds.), English in Singapore: Modernity and Management (pp. 235–260). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Modiano, M. (2005). Cultural studies, foreign language teaching and learning practices, and the NNS practitioner. In E. Llurda (Ed.), Nonnative l anguage teachers: Perceptions, challenges and contributions to the profession (pp. 25-43). NY: Springer.

INTERNET SOURCES

http://www.milliyet.com.tr/ogretmen-ayakta/gundem/gundemdetay/25.03.2011/1368692/default.htm

http://mangatblog.blogspot.com.tr/

http://frenchgirlinseattle.blogspot.com.tr/2013/02/parlez-vous-anglais-no-i-speak-que-dalle.html

http://tefl-teacher.blogspot.com.tr/2011/09/native-english-teacher-or-non-native.html